November 3, 2009 Republican Leadership Press Conference

November 3, 2009 Republican Leadership Press Conference

NOVEMBER 3, 2009

Republican Leadership Press Conference
November 3, 2009

Participants:
- Republican Leader John Boehner (R-OH)
- Republican Whip Eric Cantor (R-VA)
- Republican Conference Vice Chair, Cathy    McMorris Rodgers (R-WA)
- Rep. Judy Biggert
- Rep. Marsha Blackburn
- Rep. Jean Schmidt
- Rep. Shelly Moore Capito
- Rep. Candice Miller
- Rep. Michelle Bachmann


Multimedia:


Audio 

Transcript:

Conference Vice Chair Cathy McMorris Rodgers
 
Good morning everyone, I'm Cathy McMorris Rodgers from Washington State. You know, sometimes a mess is big enough that only a mom can clean it up. And I'm here joining moms in the Republican Conference, and the 80 percent of women in this country that do make the health care decisions for their families spend two out of every three dollars in America. For many women in this country, they don't have time necessarily to come to D.C., but we are listening to working moms and stay-at-home moms all across this country and we want to just to share with you a little bit from their perspective. Many moms in this country are worried about this health care bill currently before Congress. They're worried that it may limit their access to the pediatrician of their choice. They're concerned when they're taking care of their parents or their in-laws - what's going to happen when there's not the money to fund the public option or fund the care for Medicare, because of the Medicare cuts?
 
What we're standing here today and saying is that there is a better way. Reuters just this week announced that there is between $500 and $800 billion dollars that is wasted every year in this country when it relates to health care costs because of the way medical liability is enforced in this country. The waste, the fraud, the abuse, the lack of wellness programs. That's where we should be starting. That's the first step that we could take. There's many other steps. We look forward and would welcome the opportunity to work with Democrats across the aisle to take some first steps that would have immediate impact in reducing costs and making health care more affordable.
 
Rep. Judy Biggert
 
Hello I'm Judy Biggert from the 13th district of Illinois. And I'm a mom and I'm a grandmom. And I have been dealing a lot with health care as having four children and then seeing how my children are dealing with health care for their children. And I think that women really want to have the doctor-patient relationship. When they go in and talk to the pediatrician, they want to be able to plan, to make the best plans for their children.
 
And seniors are the other group that feels like they're being told that they don't really need the health care as they enter in, as they age, and that is really disturbing to so many women. In my district I have been in many senior centers, 50 percent of those seniors, and particularly women, have Medicare Advantage and that is going to be cut. So, the promise that, if you have the health care that you like, you can keep it: that was a promise made and a promise that is not kept. The Democrats have denied that and women are upset about it. So we need to really focus on affordable, quality health care and we don't see that in this bill.
 
Rep. Marsha Blackburn
 
I'm Marsha Blackburn from Tennessee, and you know one of the things that we are all hearing as a note of concern from many women who serve as mayors, who serve on city commissions, serve as state senators and state reps all around this nation, and they're catching on to the fact that the Pelosi health care bill is a government takeover, and that it's not affordable, that it is just not going to work.  And we have seen this in Tennessee when they did the test case for public option health care called TennCare, and it nearly bankrupted the state.  And even our governor, who is a Democrat, has said that when you look at raising that Medicaid limit to 133 percent and then to 150 percent of the federal poverty level, that cost is going to be passed on to the states, and all of our state legislators are going to have to figure out how they pay for that and still meet the demands in the services that are there.  So women working at the local and the state level all across this country are raising the point that this just might be a bill that is too big to afford.
 
Rep. Jean Schmidt
 
I'm Congresswoman Jean Schmidt from Cincinnati, Ohio, and there are many reasons why I am opposing this bill.  Right now I'd like to focus on one that is dear to my heart.   As a mother who took care of elderly parents until they died, I'm very concerned with what this bill will do to our elderly.  If you look closely at the bill, you see that the cuts that they are making in Medicare directly affect elder care.  I strongly suggest each and every one of us to read this bill carefully.  Not just the Members of Congress, but folks in the United States, and focus in on what it will do for our elderly.  It's not just taking away Medicare Advantage.  It's the cuts that are going to come out of Medicare that will truly change the fabric of our society, our most vulnerable, and I ask that we look at this very very carefully before we sign onto a plan that dramatically shifts those that have given so much to us.
 
Rep. Shelley Moore Capito
 
Hi I am Shelley Moore Capito, West Virginia 2nd district. I too am a mother, mother of three and both my parents are living and thankfully in pretty good health. But I said last night on the floor something that I think is particularly important for all of us today. As mothers, many of us are mothers, we have that trained ear so in the middle of the night when you think your child is in distress, you put the ear to your child's chest to see if you can hear distress, or a rasp, or a croup beginning to develop. And a mother's ear I think is very keen when we discover, when we think one of our children's health is in danger.
 
And I think that's the same ear that we have here. We have our ear to the pulse of the American people, to the elderly in this country and we are listening. There's a lot of talking in Washington. There's not enough listening and I think we as the women in the Republican Conference have our ears listening to the distress of those are concerned about Medicare, those who are concerned about access, those in the rural communities where I live are worried that their choices are going to curtailed or discontinued in some spots. So I would say that we are listening and we want to know the best way to solve the problems and we have the trained ear that I believe to understand the distress that people are feeling and how to best address those problems. Thank you.
 
Rep. Candice Miller
 
I am Candice Miller from the 10th district of Michigan, Macomb County, the home of the Reagan Democrats. I am a mother, I'm a grandmother. And I think one of the cruelest hoaxes that's about to be played on women and all Americans is what the president keeps saying, and the Speaker as well ,that if you like your present health care system you can keep it. And I keep talking to my women friends who say the president and Speaker Pelosi keeps assuring us that if we like the system we have and we do, that we will be able to keep it.
 
Here is an article from the Macomb Daily just two days ago. They did actually a survey with our Chamber of Commerce around the county and asked employers whether or not they would continue to provide the health care benefits that they currently give to their employees or whether or not they will take the 8 percent penalty. And of course, an easy business matrix, an easy business decision to make the overwhelming majority of the businesses in the heartland of Michigan, in the heartland of America have said that they are going to dump their employees out on the public plan as soon as it becomes available. Again, I think this is very disingenuous and a cruel hoax on the American people and women in particular.
 
Rep. Michele Bachmann
 
The number one concern of Americans and particularly of women is the idea of jobs and the jobs that we lost. Christina Romer is the economic advisor for President Obama. She has stated that if this bill passes this could mean another 5.5 million American jobs lost. That's the last thing we need right now in a fragile economy.
 
Women are very security conscious about economics and their family. They feel it first before anyone. And they are very concerned if they are going to lose their job, if their husband or a loved one would lose a job.  And that's something that I think that American women are hoping Congress will take very seriously before they cast this vote. Will this help the job climate or will it hurt? Well, by the president's own numbers, this can mean 5.5 million jobs lost so we might as well call this the China-India job stimulus program.
 
 
Republican Leader John Boehner
 
When you asked Americans their biggest concern about health care today, what you find out is they're concerned about the cost of health care. And if you look at Speaker Pelosi's bill, it's going to increase the cost of health insurance for all Americans. This bill now is at a total price of about 1.3 trillion and rising, exactly what the American people don't want. But beyond the price tag and beyond the fact it's going to increase premiums, it's going to raise taxes on Americans, it's going to cut seniors' benefits. All the things that Americas are saying no to. And at 1,990 pages, what more does any American need to know about what's going to happen to our health care system?
 
Republicans have offered better solutions all year. We think we have a better solution when it comes to health care. A solution that will drive down the price of health insurance and expand access at a price America can afford today. Our plan will allow businesses and other groups of individuals, and trade associations to pull together to get health insurance at a price just like big businesses and unions can today.  We allow individuals and businesses to buy insurance across state lines, thereby creating more competition, which we believe will lower prices. Our bill will provide grants to states to have innovative programs that will reduce the cost of health insurance in their states. And yes, our plan is the only plan that really does end junk lawsuits that drive up the cost of health insurance for all Americans. I am excited about our prospects. We are at the point where this is the moment. We have had this conversation for over a year. We've been in this debate over the last four to six months, but now is the time. Now is the time for Americans to step up to make their members of Congress aware of how they feel about Speaker Pelosi's 1,990 page bill. 
 
Republican Whip Eric Cantor
 
The 1,990 page Pelosi Health Care Bill is a horrible bill. And we House Republicans will stand united against that bill for two reasons. One, it is a bill far outside the mainstream of what the American people want, and two, as the Leader just indicated, we have a better way and we are going to be proffering our alternative that reflects a much different vision for the direction of health care in this country. Providing a different vision and a better way is how majorities are built.  We will begin that process today, we will also see that process take place across the elections that are occurring as we speak in Virginia, New Jersey, New York, and many other towns and cities across this country.